KTLA

Antisemitic propaganda seen throughout Los Angeles area

The Beverly Hills Police Department says it’s aware of antisemitic flyers being dispersed in the north part of the city overnight.

The flyers were collected and there was “no threat to the community,” police said.

Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse, whose mother survived a death march from Auschwitz by hiding behind a barn, spoke out against antisemitism on Twitter.

“ENOUGH HATE meant 2 silence us,” she wrote. “I will speak LOUDER.”

Bosse also spoke with KTLA and echoed those sentiments.

“It really hits close to my soul, and this is not, in my view, free speech. This is hate speech,” she said.

Rabbi Chaim Mentz of Chabad of Bel Air also spoke out against growing displays of antisemitism in the U.S.

“Our society is becoming more and more, I can get away with putting down other people,” Mentz said. “I can get away with putting down the Jewish people. We, the Jewish people, have noticed that our children sometimes do not always want to wear a yarmulke. They will, but they’re kind of wearing a baseball cap now and why are they hiding? Because out of nowhere they are seeing banners of hate and they think to themselves, ‘What did I do? Why are you hating me?’”

Earlier this month, similar flyers were discovered in a San Marino neighborhood on Yom Kippur, which is considered the most important holiday in the Jewish faith.

On Saturday, social media users posted photos from the 405 Freeway in which antisemitic signs could be seen on an overpass. A small group of people appeared to hang the flags, which echoed a sentiment by rapper Ye, aka Kanye West.

Ye was suspended on Twitter and Instagram after a post that said he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”

White supremacists have unfurled banners from 101 Freeway overpasses in Ventura County several times this year.

These latest incidents come during a rise in antisemitic sentiment across the country.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors and responds to incidents of antisemitism and bias, antisemitic incidents in America reached an all-time high in 2021.

Incidents were reported in all 50 states, ADL said.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón released a statement on Twitter that reads:

“We cannot tolerate the Antisemitism that was on full display today on an LA Fwy. White Supremacy is a societal cancer that must be excised. This message is dangerous & cannot be normalized. I stand with the Jewish community in condemning this disgusting behavior.”